Extra-judicial Killings in Balochistan and the Silence of International Community
Reposted from Bygwaah | March 11, 2011 | Story
by Nobat Marri
One of the latest victims of the extra-judicial killings of Baloch people by Pakistani state and Army is my brother Faiz Mohammad Marri. He was arrested on the night between 6 and 7 November 2010. Pakistan security agencies raided his house in Metrowell area of Karachi, where he was receiving treatment for the torture wounds that were inflict on him by Pakistani security forces previously.
Photo: Faiz Muhammad Marri
Balochistan is a resource rich country that is presently occupied by Pakistan and Iran. The illegal occupation of Eastern Balochistan by Pakistan took place in 27 March 1948. Since then Baloch have been fighting tirelessly against the unnatural state of Pakistan to regain their independence. Following illegal occupation of Eastern Balochistan in 1948, Pakistani army has carried out five major military operations in Balochistan to silence the voice of Baloch demand for their just and democratic right to freedom. They have failed to achieve this objective in the past and they will also fail to do so in the future. The fifth military operation started in the year 2000 by military dictator Perviz Musharaf is till continued by his predecessors.
Baloch nation never surrendered and has never set an inch back from their genuine struggle to free Balochistan from Pakistani occupation. Carpet bombings, torture, extra-judicial killings have never stopped and has kept rising in occupied Balochistan. Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed along with an unknown number of Baloch in August 2006 in an air strike near Kahan. The orders to kill him have directly come from the dictator Musharaf regime who unfortunately still roams in western capitals with immunity.
Thousands of Baloch have been displaced, their houses were burnt, and countless families' valuables have been looted by Pakistan's "Islamic" army. Regretfully, the International Community has remained silent to the heinous crimes of the state forces. The silence of international community in turn has encouraged Pakistani Army to continue its carnage in Balochistan. The international community was not only silent about continuous violation of Human rights in Balochistan but they also have ignored the provision of gunship helicopters and weapons to Pakistani Army to be used against the secular democratic movement in Balochistamn. Under the pretext of so-called war against terrorism the weapons and gunships have been used in Balochistan. Killing of highly respected Baloch leader Akbar Bugti followed by Balach Marri has become the overriding sanctioned policy of Pakistani army and the state establishment in the occupied Balochistan. The occupying mercenaries have been targeting the Baloch political leaders and intellectuals since they have occupied Baloch land at gun point in 1948.
Pakistani forces have been intensifying their extreme violation of Human rights with each passing day. They have kept deceiving other states and human rights groups and organisations by feeding them false information about Baloch people and Balochistan. Those states and organisations who tend to champion respect to human rights and democratic values must be allowed to carry out an independent assessment of the situation in occupied Balochistan. Only then they will discover the very grime reality that the Pakistani immoral state has created in Balochistan. One of these grime facts of life is over 8000 Baloch political and human rights activists who have been forcefully disappeared from the time of Musharaf regime to the present day.
In 2008 soon after gaining power, through a sympathy vote, the PPP has apologised from people of Baluchistan about the mistakes of the previous governments and vowed to address the grievances of Balochistan. The apology of the PPP was soon followed by an unprecedented and significant rise in disappearances of Baloch political activists and extra judicial killings of innocent Baloch by the FC and Military Intelligence.
To cover their failure and divert the attention of International Community, in December 2009, the PPP announced a so-called (Aghaz-e-Haqooq Balochistan) package. The phrase employed to describe the package is as flawed as Pakistan as a unified political entity itself. They are stolen words taken from Persian which means the beginning of the rights of Balochistan. This rather unexciting Persian expression is used and converted into a fanciful Urdu slogan in order to hide the ground reality of situation in Balochistan. The expression in itself, nevertheless, implicitly acknowledges the violation of the rights of Baloch in occupied Eastern Balochistan by the artificial state of Pakistan. As was expected Pakistan's new packages did not restore the natural democratic rights of Baloch people but they resulted in more extra-judicial killings and abduction of Baloch writers, poets, journalists, lawyers, students, political and human rights activists.
Ghulam Mohammed Baloch the president of Baloch National Movement, Lala Munir and Sher Mohammed Baloch three Baloch prominent leaders were the first high profile victims of state's new policy of KILL AND DUMP in Balochistan. They were abducted from their lawyer (Kachkol ali's) office in a broad daylight by Pakistani security forces on 3 April 2009. Few weeks later their mutilated and bullet riddled bodies were found in Paidarak area of Turbat on 8 April 2009. Ghulam mohammed Baloch a well known political figure and the president of Baloch National Movement, played a decisive role in the case of John Solecki safe release. Mr Solecki, an American national and UN official, was abducted by BLUF to highlight the plight of Baloch people under occupation of Pakistan. He was released unharmed with the interference of key Baloch leaders and one of these leaders was Ghulam Mohammad Baloch.
Rasool Baksh Mengal was another victim of the new wave of political murders by the start, its hired agents and Intelligence agencies that was initiated with their (Aghaz-e-Haqooq Balochistan Package). Rasool Baksh was abducted by Pakistani forces from Uthal on 25 August 2009 and his mutilated body was found hanging on tree after one week of his abduction. The signs of gruesome torture, cigarette burns and marks of military boots, were visible all over his body. In addition, the Pakistani Jihadist henchmen carved with a sharp instrument "Pakistan Zinda bad", down with BNM and BLA.
The International Community's silence on this matter has emboldened Pakistani security forces in their criminal act of kill and dump policy in Balochistan. The focus of this policy is clearly to target the educated section of the Baloch nation. The aim is to create havoc among the Baloch to silence their voice for Independent Balochistan. More than hundred Baloch intellectuals and students were subjected to the same fate of abductions and extra-judicial killings in 2010. The bodies found, all are tortured and killed in the same fashion. All victims without exception bore signs of extreme torture and were shot on head. Some of them due to being severely tortured were unrecognizable. They were accompanied with paper slips for identification from the executors of the Pakistani terror machine. The legs and hands of most of them were tied in back.
Helpless before the notorious security agencies, on January 2nd 2010, Pakistan's President Mr Asif Ali Zardari has said that "espousal of the rights of Balochistan by him had angered "certain elements" and they were now out to remove him" - this statement was confirmed by a follow up statement by Chief Minister of Balochistan Mr Aslam Raisani in which he said that "FC was running parallel govt in Balochistan".
On the occasion of the Eid festival six Baloch bodies were found abandoned in various parts of Eastern occupied Balochistan. Among the bodies were those of Samiullah Mengal, Asmatullah Sarparah, Lala Hameed Baloch and Hamid Ismail Baloch. According to reports a letter found in Lala Hameed Baloch's pocket read: "Eid gift for the Baloch Nation".
Mr. Zaman Marri, (38), a lawyer by profession, was abducted on August 19, 2010 near his law office on Jinnah Road, Quetta, the capital city of Eastern Balochistan, while he was on his way home to Killi Kamaloo. On September 5, Zaman Marri's bullet-riddled body was found in the Ghuncha Dhori area of Mastung city, 40 kilometres away from Quetta city. He was tortured to the extent that his body, when it was found, was so mutilated that it could not be immediately identified.
Mr. Zaman Marri was also pursuing a case on behalf of his cousin, Mr. Ali Ahmed Marri alias Alliya Marri, who was arrested by plain clothed persons on April 7 along with three friends, Kamal Khan Marri, Lala Marri and Lal Mohammd Marri. On September 11, Laiya Marri's mutilated body was found in the same area where Zaman Marri's body was found.
On October 18 a young boy, Master Abdul Majeed, (14), son of Haji Mohammad Ramzan Zehri, a well known trader, was abducted by the Frontier Corps and on October 24 his body was found in Koshak River at Khuzdar district. He was an activist of the Baloch Student Organisation Azad and was a student in class eight.
Another student, Mohammad Khan Zohaib, also an activist of Baloch Student Organisation Azad, was abducted in July by plain clothed persons riding in a black coloured Sarf pickup. These types of cars are generally used for abductions by the state intelligence agencies in Balochistan. His bullet riddled body was found in Khuzdar on October 20. His family members claim that he was arrested by personnel from the FC for having links with militants who are fighting for the independence Balochistan.
On 23 September, the bullet riddled body of the missing Baloch lawyer Ali Sher Kurd was found in Khuzdar district. Kurd was reportedly abducted by Pakistani intelligence agents three days before. His neck was broken and his body showed marks of extreme torture.
Following is a list of Baloch political activists who have been subjected to custody killings by Pakistani security forces. The report is compiled by Baloch National Voice (BNV).
Baloch National Voice (BNV) Report on In-Custody Killings
The extra-judicial killing of Baloch activists by Pakistani forces has been continuing without any break since illegal occupation of Balochistan by Pakistan in 1948. But in the recent years it has intensified to an unprecedented rate. On 5 January 2011 the body of Qambar Chakar Baloch who was a central committee member of BSO (Azaad) and Ilays Nazar a young Baloch journalist of Balochi magazine were found in Paidarak area of Turbat. Qambar Chakar was previously abducted by the same occupying forces on 10 July 2009. He was released without any charges on 22 April 2010. Then he was re-abducted on 26 November 2010 along with his cousin Irshad Nasir Baloch from Shahi Tump Turbat.
Both young Baloch students were brutally tortured. All evidence suggests that they may have been killed under torture. There were also several signs of bullet wounds on their heads and rest of their bodies. Qambar Chakar has been shot in the head several times and his right arm was broken from two places. The rest of his body also bore sings of extreme torture. Ilyas Nazar had six wounds in the back of his head and there were several marks of deeply inflicted torture on his body. Just this year, 2011, so far 32 Baloch political activists have been killed in Pakistan's notorious torture chambers in Balochistan.
A member of Baloch National Movement (BNM) Mehboob Wadhela and President of Baloch Republican Party (BRP) Gwadar Zone, Rehman Arif has been murdered by Pakistani occupying army in their custody last month. Their brutally tortured bodies riddled with bullets were found from Ormara nearby Pasni on 23 February 2011.
One of the latest victims of the extra-judicial killings of Baloch people by Pakistani state and Army is my brother Faiz Mohammad Marri. He was arrested on the night between 6 and 7 November 2010. Pakistan security agencies raided his house in Metrowell area of Karachi, where he was receiving treatment for the torture wounds that were inflict on him by Pakistani security forces previously.
My mother had submitted writ petitions in Sindh High Court and Supreme Court of Pakistan for his safe and early discovery but to no avail. Despite the submission of petitions the courts took no notice of his arrest and the Pakistan military eventually tortured my brother to death. Like hundreds of other Baloch political activists, they dumped his body in a deserted area in Balochistan. As it has been the case with other victims kill and dump policy his body bore marks of extreme torture. There were several dagger wounds on the back of his body which were still bleeding at the time of his recovery. He had also two bullet wounds in his face. One of his eyes was lost due to these wounds.
Pakistani and Punjabi establishment have been employing every means to play-down their barbaric kill and dump policy in Balochistan. A recent event that occurred in Lahore is a case in point. Two Pakistani/Punjabis were killed by an American national in self defence in January 2011. The Pakistani and the international media took the story to the sky high and it remains under spotlight. They have focused solely and exclusively on this unfortunate episode while at the same time the plight of tens of thousands of abducted Baloch political activists who were subjected to unimaginable torture and were subjected to extra-judicial killings have been entirely ignored by the state as well as International Media.
One question that every Baloch keeps asking is where are some of these human rights organisations? Where are the UN and the international media? The Baloch do not demand a miracle from these institutions but they expect some assistance to get to the actual truth. They want these organisations to fulfil the claims they make in defending human rights and democratic values. The least they expect is a fact finding commission to be sent to Balochistan investigating the fate of the state violence and terrorism.
It is commonly acknowledged that Pakistan is one of the most corrupt and most violent countries in the world. It is also generally believed that Pakistani establishment is second to none in the art of deception and fraud. They deceived every nation that they have cooperated with including their own people. Balochistan has fallen one of its victims after the illegal occupation of by Pakistan in 1948. The truth about Balochistan has been systematically concealed by Pakistani Army and establishment. The Baloch became one of its prime victims of this policy. Pakistan's crimes against Baloch people and its fraudulence imposition in Balochistan can only be revealed if the independent media and human rights organisations are allowed to investigate these crimes. That will lead to restoration of a free, open and democratic Balochistan, which means the end of Pakistan's footsteps in Balochistan.
